Eastern European gangs instilling fear in Sliema!

I am really surprised that Malta Today would print such hogwash. I was under the impression that this paper took journalism seriously, and yet they come out with this asinine, uninformed, fear mongering, racist, unsubstantiated piece of drivel. Shame on you Malta today. Do the right thing and retract this article unless you can provide immediate proof and indicate official sources for this report

Denial is one way of dealing with an obvious problem and blaming the messenger is another way. The source of these reports are actually the courts and the police themselves. And it is not just one newspaper reporting as a recent news report shows.

http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/ … 831622662/

The best way to deal with a problem (apart from law enforcement ) is to make it public and to be aware.

Cheers
Ricky

I'm used to these 'gangs'. I ran a nightclub in Eastern Europe.

I had groups of gangs  'befriend' me. They'd pay me to keep open 'after hours', so they'd have their private parties. And before you ask, saying no, really was not an option.

They would openly brag with me of criminal activities in my home country (UK). I would squirm at the stories I heard.

Despite my close friends in the local police, there was little that was possible to stop them. The way they operate is fluid and fast.

Like Ricky, I would advise to be very vigilante. It saddens me that my soon to be new home is prey to such criminals.

I was at mosta market today and a woman from UK on her holidays had her purse stolen from her bag    not good.

so sad to hear that , but how do you know who stole it could have been any one

I agree Rob. Although I have to say steff88 didn't mention any specific nationality.

Having lived in Germany, London and Hungary I've noticed that people from 2 EU countries are dominating this "business". However, it is not right to suspect any specific nationality, without any proof. It could have been anyone.

Unfortunately, there are lots of conflicts, political and religious issues and other things happening and we tend to believe what the media and other people tell us. Fact is, it's not always the truth and we are often manipulated by this things.

I just hope this will change. The sooner the better for all of us

We can blame Eastern Europe gangs and then Russian gangs and then Gipsy gangs and then another kind of gang all day long - it always comes down to this: what is the police doing ?

Organized crime can not flourish without Police cooperation. Sure, you'll have pickpockets and small petty crime but you can't have "gangs instilling fear" without the police turning a blind eye to it.

Oh sorry I was just mentioning that pick pocketing happened at mosta market yesterday just to let ppl know. I don't have the specific nationality 

The title is really sad, again im being put under the same line with people from more than ten countries. Why call it "Eastern European" gang ... what if they are just russians or just romanians. The title is extremely ignorant and hurtful, it cause hate and prejudice towards my person and my country without a reason. It feeds Maltese population with hate towards whole Eastern Europe because of the actions of people from just one or maybe two countries. There are criminals from all around Europe in Malta, yet you dont see comments like "Send them all back home" when british drug dealer is being caught. Stop hurting yourself and us. We are all immigrants here.

Hi Hyperthron

you are in Düsseldorf in Germany , or at least your profile says that ! . So what is your interest in Malta? Yes, we residents of Sliema and San Giljian are scared of these criminal gangs !!

In the meantime you will know that they are from Romania and that the police warning has been given out to watch for Romanian cars with more than 3 passengers.

So if you are not from Romania your country is out of the focus.  Our building has been upgraded with CCTV  and we are all very vigilant! If you have any suspicions about ' Eastern European ' suspects feel free to contact your local police station.

It is a very sad situation but who is to blame ?

Cheers
Ricky

You see. We are talking about Romanians here, yet the titles clearly point out to "Eastern Europeans" and that for most people means Poland too. An average reader will be fed with hate and prejudice towards Polish(and the rest of EE) people on Malta by reading this in newspapers. Just look at the comments whenever eastern europe is brought up. And this is what is happening on Malta right now, prejudice towards eastern europeans is growing because of the actions of Romanians. Its like hating brits and "kick them out" for crimes commited by french. You and i ...we know the diffrence, sadly most Maltese dont, and this is why its important to not to blame whole EE for actions of one gang from one country by writing titles like yours or those from dailymail, independent or maltatoday.

I personally think the title was just meant to not upset anyone, as, at the end of the day, most of us know it's Romanians.

And for the record, my wife is Romanian. She hates to be painted with the same brush and is often embarrassed to say where she was born.

I have lived and had business in Romania for many, many years. I know the country and it's criminal underworld all to well.

It's a beautiful country, and many of the younger generation have had enough and view the west as a 'way out'. For the smart ones (not the criminals), I don't blame them.

One Romanian guy came up to me in my club and said "Our country has it all....it's a shame there are people here!"

/end rant/

They are now being called 'The Sock Gang' as they use socks from the victims house to put over their hands to stop fingerprints and then the socks are found in the street outside.

Hi Ricky   I think your post is most accurate about Eastern Europeans in sliema , the crime these beggars and nasty people are doing is well publised in malta , Spain ,France,Germany ,and every country in the European Union .they have free access to our shores to commit their crimes . I can only hope the people who are negative towards you get on their wrong side and we will see who the racist is. Jean

😇

@jeaniecam
Do you realize that Eastern Europe is more than ten countries. This is not Polish, Latvian, Lithuanian or Slovenian gang, it is Romanian gang.

Hi

there is a huge irony at someone on a forum for expats living abroad bashing immigrants ...

Jeaniecam, to be honest I find your comments quite insulting and to a certain extent racist.

First off all, I've heard the statement about knowing somebody who is Romanian, Polish etc. and he/she is a hard working person etc. However, one can clearly read trough your lines that you don't like Gypsies. It's a free country and you can raise your opinion of course. But let me ask you, how many gypsies do you know in person? And I mean, really knowing! I bet, zero!

I am sick and tired of people generalising countries, nationalities or religions. I personally don't have any direct connection to gypsies, but I lived in a country with a high gypsy population and I can guarantee you there a lot of nice, friendly and hard working gypsies.

I am from Germany and I know that Germans have certain reputation in the world. And it's sometimes not too positive if you know what I mean

But I can also sing you a long song about reputation of the Brits in the world and trust me it's not positive neither. However, I don't give a sh.... about that. Because I know a lot of Brits and I lived in UK for over 5 years.  There are lots of very nice, friendly and hardworking people, but also some exeptions, who are let me say it that way "not nice at all".

I lived in 5 countries over a longer period, two of them were in Eastern Europe. I traveled a whole world and I know what I am talking about. Have you ever lived outside of your comfort zone? With that I mean outside of rich countries? 

My suggestion to you, stop generalising and get to know people and cultures!

I must also admit though that I am very bugged with some of the gypsies traveling through Europe and ripping off people. This is a big issue which needs to be solved asap.

😇

First of all, I am Not an immigrant. But even if... Would you treat me different if I was?

What does it have to do with Christmas cards and a different religion? Do you hear yourself?

Secondly, I believe you better stay where you are? I don't think Malta needs more ignorant people. You are not even here and you make comments based on you experience in Glasgow. This topic is about Malta and you would know nothing about it.

Fair point about your country and your husband, but don't you think that somewhere else people do the same? Once again, how many gypsies do you know personally to brand them all criminals and then even taking whole Eastern Europe as an example. Also, what do you know about Turkey to make such comments?

Just to complete my post above. I agree on the point you are making about taxpayers. But that applies to everyone including Scots and Brits and of course Eastern Europeans or anybody else. But to brand them criminals and culprits is racist!

if your from another country living in any country thats not yours from birth your an immigrant ..that being if jeaniecam retired to malta she would be an immigrant

an immigrant is noun: immigrant; plural noun: immigrants

    a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.

so stop using the word immigrant as a derograty term for people you have issues with

maximusm03 wrote:

First of all, I am Not an immigrant. But even if... Would you treat me different if I was?


?

yes you are , your from Germany , your living in Malta

I spent two years working in a kitchen for asylum seekers in Germany, and i have met a lot of Gypsies from Albania and Serbia, also a lot of Muslims. Most of them were really nice people, some are my friends to this day. Media all around Europe build up hate towards Romanians, Gypsies and whole Eastern Europeans by over generalization, sensiationalism and scaremongering ....this changed my life a little bit ....very often saying "Im from Poland" works like a "mute" button. I hope people will understand someday how hurtful is that.

robpw2 wrote:

maximusm03 wrote:

First of all, I am Not an immigrant. But even if... Would you treat me different if I was?


?

yes you are , your from Germany , your living in Malta

True Rob. I didn't think about that . I came here because I've got a job offer and didn't think it falls under this term. But English is not my first language, so you are right . We are all immigrants here

jeaniecam wrote:

Hi drael.  Can your wife tell me if there are any romanian gypsies left in Romania as I believe they are all in the United Kingdom stealing the queens swans and barbecuing them in local parks ,urinating in our once lovely villages and towns .stealing anything they can and getting off Scott free .....

Hyperthron, I believe it is nearly impossible to make jeaniecam understand that sentences like that generalising a whole part of the world are racist.

😇

jeaniecam wrote:

With people like you I would never come to malta and I feel sorry for the Maltese people who don't want greedy immigrants anymore than I do .the xmas card scam is just another example of what these people do for money I would never sell out my beliefs for money .yes I see these co merchants everyday in my city stealing at ATM machines begging continually even though they get plenty of the British taxpayers money for nothing ,I will retire to a lovely little island who do not let them in unless they can keep themselves for 5 years .If malta would do this along with uk we would soon recover from these beggars

There are plenty of greedy british people who sole purpose in live is to take take take from the government . one bad apple does not make a whole orchard bad .
You are a racist - your blaming a whole group of people for the actions of a few based on your daily mail reading bigotry.
You are on a forum bashing immgrants where the majority of us are also immigrants ourselves - we have moved for a new life abroad .
As i have pointed out to you previously Immigrant is not a derograty term to describe those citizens you have a problem with it  is a word that describes any a foreign national living in a country that is not their native country .

The majority of  those who wish to move countries do so to get a better life for themselves and their family ,

coxf0001 wrote:

They are now being called 'The Sock Gang' as they use socks from the victims house to put over their hands to stop fingerprints and then the socks are found in the street outside.

Umm, I don't know which socks they are and I don't want to label all socks the same, hopefully they were not black, white, yellow or brown but I expect, like most socks, they had holes in, which let's face it can be a problem and should be dealt with in the same way 

Hi all,

it really is quite surprising and interesting to read all the comments following my original post which was just using the media jargon ( newspapers, court news , police statements) to make EXpats aware of the ( ongoing) problem of gang-based burglaries in the Sliema/ St. Julians and even St. Pauls Bay area.

In the meantime the police seem to know who they are dealing with and openly talking about a Romanian gang. Sadly they have not been able to solve the issue yet.

We are all foreigners in Malta and ,yes, immigrants!  If we have registered for residency after a 3 month stay we can even call ourselves regular immigrants. Those that come without passports and not using the regular way of entry into Malta are officially called 'irregular' immigrants.

And there are other criminal gangs in Malta from different nationalities including Maltese !

So lets keep calm and our eyes open and our doors locked.

Cheers
Ricky

jeaniecam wrote:

With people like you I would never come to malta and I feel sorry for the Maltese people who don't want greedy immigrants anymore than I do .the xmas card scam is just another example of what these people do for money I would never sell out my beliefs for money .yes I see these co merchants everyday in my city stealing at ATM machines begging continually even though they get plenty of the British taxpayers money for nothing ,I will retire to a lovely little island who do not let them in unless they can keep themselves for 5 years .If malta would do this along with uk we would soon recover from these beggars

With people like me you would never come to Malta? You made my day! Please stay where you are!
I don't think a single Maltese have an issue with me. I live by the law, pay lots of taxes and generally I am very polite person! It's great that you are not coming anymore. I would be happy if you would stay out of this forum as well. You are not in Malta and you don't want to come here anymore because of immigrants. Oh, also let me tell you, along with Eastern and Western Europeans, Americans and Australians there is a huge number of African immigrants. I would imagine they are not the immigrants you want to see.
Maybe the best thing you move to little village and "hopefully" you won't have this "issue" anymore. And instead of daily mail and the sun, you might find some time to read about the gypsy culture and history! This people are the poorest of the poorest and in most cases their chances in life equals zero. Of course there is a problem with stilling etc. I am not denying it. This needs to be dealt with, but because the politicians are people like you, the best solution for them is to send everyone back, shut the door and close the eyes. 

Anyway, if there is a life after death, I really hope you get a chance to be born as a gypsy just to enjoy your live from a different engle.

ricky wrote:

Hi all,

it really is quite surprising and interesting to read all the comments following my original post which was just using the media jargon ( newspapers, court news , police statements) to make EXpats aware of the ( ongoing) problem of gang-based burglaries in the Sliema/ St. Julians and even St. Pauls Bay area.

In the meantime the police seem to know who they are dealing with and openly talking about a Romanian gang. Sadly they have not been able to solve the issue yet.

We are all foreigners in Malta and ,yes, immigrants!  If we have registered for residency after a 3 month stay we can even call ourselves regular immigrants. Those that come without passports and not using the regular way of entry into Malta are officially called 'irregular' immigrants.

And there are other criminal gangs in Malta from different nationalities including Maltese !

So lets keep calm and our eyes open and our doors locked.

Cheers
Ricky

Thanks Ricky for letting everyone know. And I am glad they found out who is responsible for that crime. I hope they will catch them soon.

It would be great if that island would get almost crime free again!

So much fun here ... thank you people!

BTW, where is the free house and all social benefits? I feel so stupid after reading jeaniecam's information. We pay 800 euro rent for our flat in Sliema and now I see that Bulgarians get all for free. Oh, today I'm going to pay 3000 euro to get Maltese plates for my car. We have right to drive six months with Bulgarian plates but I don't want to disturb people from the TOP 10 EU.
Once again. Thank you people!

Each time someone uses the phrase "with our tax payers' money", a puppy dies.

nilonilonilo wrote:

Each time someone uses the phrase "with our tax payers' money", a puppy dies.

coxf0001 wrote:

coxf0001 wrote:

They are now being called 'The Sock Gang' as they use socks from the victims house to put over their hands to stop fingerprints and then the socks are found in the street outside.

Umm, I don't know which socks they are and I don't want to label all socks the same, hopefully they were not black, white, yellow or brown but I expect, like most socks, they had holes in, which let's face it can be a problem and should be dealt with in the same way 

I knew it.........I just knew it. OK everyone lets blame the socks then.........it's always the socks fault. Some of my best friends are socks and they have good jobs and are not a drain on the community. Yesterday a local sock saved a puppy's life.......but was there any thanks........NO.

I'm very sad for the socks.

Izabela P wrote:

We have right to drive six months with Bulgarian plates

only if you are a tourist. If you are a resident of Malta its illegal to drive a foreign plated car unless you have an exemption.